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User blog:Degrassi Forever/Destroying Juliet, Chapter Six
THIS IS NOT A FAN-FICTION. THIS IS A STORY I WORKED ON DURING MY SUMMER HOLIDAYS. That Day: I walked into home room trying to feel confident. All night I had tossed and turned, stressing out about going back to school. But when I got up I decided I had to start fresh. I had to go in there and hope I made some more friends. I figured if Shae or any of her group spoke to me I'd be nice. Not too nice, not in a sucky way, but hopefully something would go right.and they'd invite me to join them. Or if not them, maybe someone else. I had to be positive. I hadn't realised Jemima was in my home room, she blended into the environment well. She gave me a small wave as I stood uncertainly at the front of the class, not knowing where to sit. No-one else looked my way. I wasn't ballsy enough to go up to Shae's group so in the end I slid into the chair next to hers. She was sending a text message. She pressed the last button and dropped the mobile into her bag. "Are we allowed to have phones in class?" I asked. I'd read in the school rules yesterday, when I was a loner in home room, that mobiles were banned in classes. In my old school no-one had them. The only time you carried one was when you were travelling long distances, otherwise everything was really close by. You'd stand on one corner of the town talking into a phone to someone on the opposite corner. There never seemed to be much point. "Yeah, but they have to be turned off. If you're caught in class, they'll confiscate it." She pulled hers out of her bag showing me the screen. "The trick is to have it muted and on vibrate - people only text anyway. It's cheaper." Ms McKenzie came in, smiling and greeting everyone. She quickly ticked off the roll, shaking her head at Jacob as he entered after the siren. Then she made her way over to me and sat on the edge of the desk. "How was yesterday?" she asked. "Fine," I said. I shot a look in Shae's direction. I'd waited to catch her eye when she came into class, but I'd seen her look my way then deliberately ignore me. "Do you need someone to help you today?" Miss Mac asked, following my gaze. "No, I'll be fine," I muttered hastily. I didn't want Mss Mac to force Shae or any of her friends into being my buddy. Jemima wasn't in any of my classes, which was a bit of a relief. And even though it wasn't what I wanted, I figured it'd be best if I went on my own. "See you on the courts at recess," Jemima shouted as she walked away. I turned around, looking to see if anyone had heard. "where you belong, with the Weirdos and Queeros." someone muttered in my ear as they passed by. I watched Shae and her friends walk away, swinging their hair and acting so cool. And as much as I knew they were being bitches, I wanted to be with them - not heading off to the misfits on the coruts at break time. Every classroom I approached with the same gut-wrenching thoughts. Where will I sit? Who will I sit with? It was the greatest hurdle, trying to find a partner or make a friend. The work was easy enough, which was a relief as I couldn't fully concentrate. I've always been an accelerated student, which is why they put me up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a child genius, but I get a lot of tutoring at home. Between them, my parents cover Humanites, Maths and Science. Mum and Dad will do practically anything to make sure I suceeed. At my old school everyone expected me to know the answers, including the teachers. All the kids in my class knew I'd be the top student at the end of the year. But now it looked like it was going to work against me. I was sensing clear resentment from some of the students. It was like the hierachy had been determined, everyone had a ranking, and I was coming in and challenging them. I didn't want to challenge anyone. I just wanted to fit in. And so I found myself keeping pretty quiet and not volunteering information like I normally would. In English we were doing Animal Farm. I was sitting next to Sukey. "We are going to look at why Orwell chose farm animals for his analogy. Has anyone read'' Animal Farm?" No body put their hand up. I'd studied it last year in an advanced reading program, but I kept my mouth shut. "Right, I'll hand out the books and I want you to discuss in pairs the title and blurb." I was glad Sukey was my partner, and felt myself relax as we both studied the cover. "I think he uses animals to make it easier for the reader." Sukey offered. "It looks like a kid's book." "Yes, he presents it on several different levels," I said authoratively, drawing on my previous studies, "the fable, the satire and the allegory." She looked at me suspiciously, "Have you read this?" I knew she thought I was showing off, and I guess I had been. But it was so automatic to come up with the right answer. "Kinda," I mumbled, feeling like a liar, the blush developing along my jaw line. "My dad teaches English: he has books like this lying aruond the house everywhere." "But how do you know the stuff you just said?" she interrogated. I felt miserable. "They put me up a year and I had this teacher who was an Orwell freak, so we had to do ''Animal Farm." Sukey was looking at me like I'd stepped in dog poo. "You're a year younger than us?" Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "Yeah, I guess. I was fourteen two weeks ago." I felt about ten. I wanted mt mummy. I wished I was at home. Everything I did or said pissed people off. Suddenly her whole attitude changed. I think she could see how close to crying I was. "Sorry Juliet, I don't mean to come across like a bitch," she said softly, reaching over and touching my arm. "You're just so full of surprises." Then we had to get into groups of four and combine our ideas. I sat holding my breath as Mr Smith made Sukey and me join Shae and some guy called Todd. I sat quietly as Shae explained the points she and Todd came up with. When she told us about the use of sattire, I was pretty impressed. Shae is obviously no idiot. "So Juliet," she said nicely, "what'd you guys find?" I looked at Sukey, hoping she'd share out ideas but she stared down at the book. Shae was smiling at me, and she actually didn't seem bitchy at all. None of her firends was in this class. Maybe she was going to give me another chance. "We looked at the imagery and the use of animals to stand for something else," I said trying not to use fancy terminology. "Right," Shae was combining our odeas onto a sheet of paper. "There's a word for that, isn't there? Oh what is it - analogy?" She was squinting, thinking hard. "Allegory?" I offered cautiously. "Yeah," she smialed at me. "that's the one. Good one Juliet." And for the first time in two days I actually felt good about soemthing. I smiled back and looked at Sukey happily. But she was watching me from under her eyebrows, silently and strangely. She had turned into a turtle since we'd joined Shae and Todd, I could barely see her head poking over her shoulders. But now I was feeling pretty relaxed. Comfortable for the first time and contributing confidently to our group discussion. Shae wasn't being a cow at all, she nodded and smiled at the points I made, in fact she was so nice I thought maybe we would be friends. I stood at the front of the class, out sheet of paper pinned behind me. I was nervous as hell and I hadn't wanted to present. But Sukey had withdrawn so far she was virtually cartonic and Todd just flatly refused. So that left ,e and Shae, and Shae had kindly pointed out that she had written up the ideas so it was only fair. I started by explaining the use of satire but was almost immediately interreupted. "What's that?" a guy from the back asked, pointing to out chart. "Allergy? What's that got to do with the book?: "Allegory," Shae said. "Can't you read, Brent?" "I'm not asking you, I'm asking her," her pointed at me. "Go on, what's it mean then?" I opened my mouth, knowing my cheeks were flaming and wiped my sweaty palms on the sides of my skirt. "When a message is presented symbolically." My voice sounded tiny. "Who came up with that?" he asked, shaking his head. I looked to Shae but she was now staring out the window. Sukey was the incredible shrinking woman and Todd rocked back on his chair watching. "Me," I said weakly. Everyone stared at me, screwing up their faces and shaking their heads in disbelief. I was overwhelmed with embarassment. In a second, things had gone from good to bad. "What do you do," Brent said, "read the dictionary or something?" "Or the encyclopedia?" a girl jeered. "You should be in Year Twelve," Todd said. I stood there biting my lip, not knowing what to say. Shae was watching me, unsmiling. Desperately, I looked to Sukey for moral support but her head almost vanished into her neck. Mr Smith jumped in. "That's enough thank you," he glared at Brent, Todd and the girl who jeered. "I'll see you three after class. Pack up,." I went back to my desk, my hands shaking I wish I could make myself invisible. Going to each new class was like torture. Aside from home room with Jemima, and English with Sukey, none of the Z Group was in any of my classes. And since Shae walked out of English without a word, I was feeling guilty for thinking I'd dump them for a better group. They were the only people even prepared to talk to me. I walked into Science alone, making a quick scan of the room. Rows of tall benches and stools stood in straight lines and there was a distinct chemical smell in the air. On the benches arounf the edge of the room Bunsen burners were plugged into bayonets. A few girls looked up as I walked in, book clutched to my chest, but there was no-one I knew at all. Thank God. Mr Dyson came in; he had a slow monotone voice. "Today we're doing test tube experiments and we'll be pairing up." I looked up around; people were already indicating to each other who they'd be with. It looked like an odd number - this time I'd really be left out. Science experiment number one: identify the loner. ''God I hated this school! "Before you choose partners, for this term we'll be working with Mr Tracy's class." Dyson pulled back the concertina partition. In the second row sat Shae and Hollie. I couldn't believe it! "Find your partners and some lab space, then send one of the partners to collect the equipment from the storeroom." Everyone jumped up to pair up with someone. But I stayed seated, drawing boxes on my Science book. If there was another reject, he or she would come to me. Otherwise I'd work on my own. ''Who cared!"Wanna be my partner?" I looked up nto see Jacob. "Yeah," I said nerves swirling in my stomach, "but don't you have a partner already?" "Normally Ryan, but we're banned from doing experiments together. We caused a mercury explosion last year. Actually Tracy's got me on probation in the lab. So I have to warn you, he'll probably be watching us pretty closely." I laughed, Jacob was so easy-going it finally felt like someone was giving me a break. It was the best lesson of the day. Jacob nearly caused another explosion - or at least the naphtalene flamkes we were heating erupted and the thermometer got pretty hot. He had just asked me where I'd moved from and got really excited when I said Grace Point. "Man, that's just outside of Margaret River," he shouted. "Yeah," I said, writing down our results on a chart in my book. "Man, that's the best surf down there," he said admiringly. "Those waves are pumping." He looked over at some of the other surfie guys. "Hey, Juliet's from Margerets," he said excitedly. "No way," one of them said, then the three of them came over. "Best place on earth, man. Can't believe you'd leave that to come to this shit hole." They gathered round asking me about home and did I surf? I said yes, even though I was crap at it, and kind of exagerrated how much surfing I did, and my ability. But these guys were being really nice and it felt good to have people interested in me. Then Mr Tracy came over. "Jacob," he shouted. "you're boiling over." "Yeah sir, sorry, but you know she's from Margerets and that's pretty cool." Jacob said. "I'm not talking about your voice Jacob," Mr Tracy pointed at out experiment. "Your test tube is boiling over. I think you're about to break another thormometer." "What?" Jacob turned to look at the bench behind him. The solution had bubbled up liike the head on a milkshake and was frothing over the side. The line of mercury in the thermometer was rising dangerously close to the top of the glass casing. "Shit," he said. The he saw Mr Tracy glare at him., "Sorry sir," he said, apologising for swearing. "Shit Juliet, get an oven glove." Before Jacob managed to turn the Bunsen burner off naphthalene solution had splattered all over the walls and windows and the shelves of clean beakers. mr Tracy told us we'd have to stay back and clean up the room. "What about the ceiling sir?" Jacob asked, pointing to the globs of soltion hanging off the roof. "Leave that," Tracy said, really annoyed. "We'll have get contractors in. Again." The rest of the class packed up and left, most of them laughing at Jacob and me. But not in a mean way, if you know what I mean. Except Hollie, who glared viciously at me. She grabbed hold of Shae's arm and whispered in her ear as they walked out. Shae looked back and gave me the weirdest look, and I knew that any progress we'd made today had definitely gone. If I spoke to anyone who wasn't a reject, I was pissing people off. So I wiped the tables down and listened to Jacob explain why learning how to mix chiemicals could be a good career choice. He was funny, and so nice to me. I just wished everyone at school could be like him. I didn't go to the netball courts at lunchtime. By the time we'd finished cleaning, it was almost time for the siren. I felt bad I'd missed them but figured we'd catch up the next day. And I hate to admit it, I did still hope I might get a better offer. At that moment my mobile made its tinkling, wand-swishing noise that reminds me of the fairy godmother in leeping Beauty. I rummaged through my messy files and papers and pulled it out from under them. the screen displayed the words New Message. I looked at it distrustfully, who would text me? For a fleeting second I considered Jake, but how would he text me during schooltime? In fact who would? Jake would never text, he'd call. Jacob was watching me. I held the phone cupped in my hand so he couldn't see the screen. My stomach was painfully tight. I tried not to make my breathing loud. Something was suss. I opened the new message. u'v got mail It was like a warning sign, there was something horribly insidious about these words. At that exact moment I knew they indicated trouble. Something's not right. Go To Chapter Seven Category:Blog posts